1802.] 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
THE ENQUIRER.—No. XXV. 
WHAT OUGHT TO BE THE OBJECT OF THE 
ARTS? 
HE multitudes that derive subsist- 
ence from the arts of decoration in 
all its various slabs are unmense: it 
cen oan hot only the operative, but the 
nventive, fac ulties of a vast body of our 
peupe who would all have new occupa- 
tions to. seek, if ithe regulations of a ge- 
neral suinptuary law were rigidly en- 
forced, 
The most ingenious artificers in the 
kinedom are those, who are concerned in 
furnishing us with things, of which we 
have no veed, and for which we are often 
times puzzled to discover any use. The 
first foundation of our love for spectacle 
is laid by the contriver of the infant’s play- 
thing; he recommends his toy to our 
early ‘notice by the gaudmess of its’co- 
lours, and the noise that it is calculated 
to produce. ‘The painted harlequin, that 
we can set into motion with a string, Is-a 
retaining pledge for cur attachment x the 
living antic, whose eambols entertain us 
in our riper years. We are generally in- 
debted to decoration for the first rudi- 
ments ofeducation, and aretaught to know 
the letters of the alphabet by the amusing 
symbols, which the ingenuity of the en- 
graver hasappropniated to them. Our 
acquaintance with Great A would be very 
insecure, were we not brought to the re- 
collection of it by the tempting figure of 
acherry-cheeked Apple. Weare betray- 
ed into reading by an mfinite choice of 
seductive little picture-books in marble- - 
paper bindings; by ie we are insensi- 
bly drawn on to gain instruction in the 
art that they teach, shale at the same 
time we feel no passion for the acquire- 
ment of it. 
Thus it is, that our first teachers con- 
trive to enlighten our understandings 
through the medium of our senses; and 
is ‘it to be wondered at that the young 
adult should be captivated by show and 
splendour, when it isso immediately made 
the vehicle of education, and instilled 
into our minds with the very first ideas, 
that we are taught to entertain? 
Enough perhaps has now been said, 
though much more might be adduced to 
explain in some degree. why so few are to 
he found, who have 2 pure and genuine 
taste and feeling for simplicity. It is 
not easily to be traced in any of nee 
scenes, which men of acertain rank ar 
concerned j m, nor inthe characters, Henke 
rally speaking, that they associate with, 
i 
4% 
The Enguirer, No. XXV, 
10s 
Within the period of my life, which has 
been a long one, our houses, equipages, 
entertainments have wonderfully en- 
creased in splendour. The age itself is 
gaudy; ingenuity is ransacked to furnish 
newly invented ornaments, and the pro~ 
ductions of nature must be either imima- 
turely anticipated, or artfully postponed, 
before they are thought worthy of a place 
“amongst modern elev: wicies. The con- 
tagion of example has no limitation; it 
ruus through all the scenes of life. The 
thoughts of a spectator must of course 
assimilate themselves to what is for ever 
passing betore his eyes, An inflamed 
Imagination will naturally producea florid. 
stile, and the declaimer, who harangues 
the crowd, or the writer who resorts to 
the press, will think himself bound to fa- 
shion something new and striking for a 
people, whose attention will no otherwise 
be arrested, 
Tience 1t comes to pass that there are 
hardly any pablic places left without de- 
coration but our churches and courts of 
law; yet even in these a rhapsodicad 
stile of declaiming tothe passions is gain- 
ing ground; for “the enthusiasm of the 
Methodists would thin the congregation 
of the } parish priest, were he not to qua- 
lify his doctrine with a few more orna- 
meuts, than are congenial with the sim- 
plicity of it; and in the instance of the - 
pleader, if he muzzies his thunder, and- 
will not storm the ears of judge and jury, 
he may walk the hall without achent. 
The writers of novels and romances 
ought to take an accurate measure of the 
public taste and curiosity before they 
send their fictions into the worid. If 
they confine thenisclves to nature, as in 
the novel, they must be very liberal in 
their incidents: if they throw it aside, as 
in the romance, they oie study to atone 
to probability by the agreeableness of the 
surprise, which their aberrations froin it 
shall create. 
The dramatic author has infinitely more 
to dread than the contempt of a circulat- 
ing library; the terror of a condemning 
audience 1s before his eyes. Let him 
therefore ray his court to their eyes, and 
if he stands in need of an apology for a 
dearth of iiterest and of wit, let him 
strive to make his peace, by a ‘profusion 
of spectacle and scenery, which, with the 
aid ofa little enlivening melody, will effec- 
tually counteract the narcotics of the di- 
alogue. Can we complain then of the 
proprietor ef a theatre, if having laid out 
an enormous sum to make it fine, he pa- 
tronizes those in preference, who. can 
make 
